Born in Porto, Portugal,[7] Villas-Boas was the second child and first son of Luís Filipe Manuel Henrique do Vale Peixoto de Sousa e Villas-Boas (born 29 February 1952) and Teresa Maria de Pina Cabral e Silva (born 11 February 1951).[1] He is also the great-grandson of Dom José Gerardo Coelho Vieira Pinto do Vale Peixoto de Vilas-Boas, 1st Vicount of Guilhomil.[8] Villas-Boas has spoken fluent English since childhood, as his grandmother was from Stockport.[9] At the age of 16, Villas-Boas found himself living in the same apartment block as Sir Bobby Robson, who was then manager of Porto. Following a debate between the two, Robson appointed Villas-Boas to Porto's observation department.[10]

At the start of the 2009–10 season, Villas-Boas left Mourinho's team to pursue a career as a manager, and he soon found a job in the Primeira Liga with Académica de Coimbra, filling a vacancy created by Rogério Gonçalves' resignation in October 2009.[14][15] At the time of his appointment, Académica were at the bottom of the league and still without any wins, but their luck started to change as he introduced a new style, leading them to a safe 11th place, ten points clear of the relegation zone. In addition to that, Académica also reached the 2009–10 Portuguese League Cup semi-finals, losing against Porto at the Estádio do Dragão to a late goal from Mariano González. His impact at Académica was immediate, not only because of solid results, but also because of the attractive football displayed by the team, which led to intense media speculation linking him with the vacant jobs at Sporting CP and FC Porto in the summer of 2010.[14]

Villas-Boas signed a deal to become the new manager of Porto on 2 June 2010.[14] Two months later, he won his first trophy as a manager when Porto defeated Benfica 2–0 to win the Portuguese Supercup.[16] Villas-Boas went on to immense success with Porto, leading them to an undefeated season in the Primeira Liga—only the second time this had ever been achieved—and winning the title by more than 20 points, having conceded only 13 goals all season. Villas-Boas went on to follow up this success by leading Porto to win both the Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Europa League, thus completing a treble in his first season in charge. By doing so, Villas-Boas became the third-youngest coach ever to win the Primeira Liga (behind Mihály Siska in 1939 and Juca in 1962) and the youngest manager ever to win a European competition, at the age of 33 years and 213 days.[3][17] On 21 June 2011, Villas-Boas tendered his resignation as Porto manager.[18]

Chelsea confirmed the appointment of André Villas-Boas as their new manager on a three-year contract with immediate effect on 22 June 2011.[19][20] They indirectly paid Porto a world record€15million (£13.3million) compensation via Villas-Boas to activate his release clause and free him from his contract with Porto.[21] On 30 July 2011, during the pre-season, Villas-Boas won his first piece of silverware with Chelsea, the 2011 Barclays Asia Trophy. Villas-Boas won all of his pre-season fixtures with Chelsea, with the team conceding only one goal in all six games. On 14 August, Villas-Boas's first Premier League match ended in a 0–0 at Stoke City, with Villas-Boas commenting on Stoke's strong defence at home. Villas-Boas then won his first competitive match as Chelsea manager, defeating West Bromwich Albion 2–1 on 20 August. He continued his season with a back-to-back home wins beating Norwich City 3–1. On 18 September 2011, Villas-Boas's Chelsea lost to Manchester United 3–1 at Old Trafford. It was Chelsea's first defeat of the season and Villas-Boas's first defeat in 39 league matches, a run stretching back to his spells as manager of Académica and Porto. On 29 October, Chelsea lost their second derby under Villas-Boas in a 5–3 defeat at home to Arsenal after falling to a 1–0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers. Then three weeks later, his Chelsea side lost a second successive home game in a 2–1 defeat to Liverpool. Days later, he once again lost to Liverpool in a 2–0 defeat in the League Cup quarter-final.

On 11 February 2012, pressure began to mount on Villas-Boas as Chelsea dropped out of the top four in the Premier League following a 2–0 league defeat against Everton. Villas-Boas responded by cancelling his squad's day off and called them in for an inquest, which provoked several senior players to question his tactics in front of owner Roman Abramovich.[22] On 21 February 2012, during a Champions League match against Napoli, Villas-Boas left Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole on the bench. Chelsea lost 3–1 and the club's technical director asked for an explanation of the team selection on behalf of Abramovich.[23] On 4 March 2012, following a 1–0 league defeat against West Brom which left Chelsea three points adrift of Arsenal in the battle for fourth place in the Premier League, Villas-Boas was relieved of his managerial duties by Chelsea, with assistant manager Roberto Di Matteo being appointed as caretaker manager on an interim basis until the end of the season. On the Chelsea website, it read, "The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early."[24]

On 3 July 2012, it was announced that Villas-Boas had been named Tottenham Hotspur head coach after successful talks with the club, replacing Harry Redknapp and signing a three-year deal with the North London football team.[25][26] Villas-Boas' first competitive game in charge of Tottenham came on 18 August 2012 in the opening day of the Premier League season, losing 2–1 to Newcastle United away from home.[27] His first competitive win came on 16 September 2012, a 3–1 victory away to Reading.[28]

On 29 September 2012, Villas-Boas became the first Tottenham manager to win at Old Trafford in 23 years after his side beat Manchester United 2–3.[29] Villas-Boas took charge of his first North London derby against Arsenal on 17 November 2012 at the Emirates Stadium. Despite taking the lead early on, goalscorer Emmanuel Adebayor was sent off just eight minutes later, and Tottenham eventually lost 5–2.[30] Villas-Boas earned his first piece of personal Tottenham silverware when he won the Manager of the Month award for December. The team managed to pick up vital points in order to pursue their top four ambition. Promising big scorelines away from home such as against Fulham, Aston Villa and Sunderland along with home wins against Swansea City and Reading, left Tottenham in third place going into the new year. One set back was a tough trip to Goodison Park, where Spurs were leading up until the 90th minute, before two late Everton goals in as many minutes, snatched victory away from the North London side.

In February 2013, he guided Tottenham to the last 16 of the Europa League after a last minute goal from Mousa Dembélé, securing a 1–1 draw against Olympique Lyonnais at the Stade Gerland. Spurs won the tie 3–2 on aggregate, after a 2–1 win at home the previous week. Following a 3–2 away win at West Ham United, Tottenham's third win from three Premier League matches that month, Villas-Boas picked up his second piece of personal Tottenham silverware of the season as he was awarded the Manager of the Month award for February, along with Gareth Bale who picked up the Player of the Month award for February as well.[31]

On the final day of the Premier League season, Tottenham sat a point behind North London rivals Arsenal, knowing that in order to qualify for the 2013–14 Champions League, they would need a win and hope that Arsenal would either draw or lose. Tottenham won against Sunderland, but did not qualify due to Arsenal's 0–1 win at Newcastle United. Even though Tottenham finished a point behind the Champions League playoff spot, they set a new club record by finishing with 72 points.[32] This was also the highest points tally ever achieved by any club in the Premier League to consequently not finish in the top four.[33]

On 16 December 2013, Tottenham announced that Villas-Boas had left the club "by mutual consent."[37] The dismissal, with Spurs lying seventh in the Premier League and having won all six of their Europa League group games, followed a series of disappointing domestic league results that included a 6–0 defeat away to Manchester City and culminated in a 0–5 home defeat to Liverpool.[38] Villas-Boas left the club with the highest percentage of league wins of any manager in the club's Premier League era.[38]

In the 2014–15 season, Zenit qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage by beating AEL Limassol in the third round qualification and Standard Liège in the playoffs. On 17 May 2015, Villas-Boas led the club to the fifth league title in its history, clinching it after a 1–1 draw against FC Ufa with two games left to play. In the 2015–16 Champions League, Zenit finished top of the Group H. They were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Benfica.

On 10 September 2015, Villas-Boas announced he would return to Portugal because of his family and therefore be leaving Zenit at the end of the 2015–16 season after turning down a contract extension.[41] On 2 May 2016 Zenit won the Russian Cup by beating CSKA Moscow 4-1 in the final in Kazan. On 24 May 2016 Villas-Boas left the club at the end of the season, with Mircea Lucescu appointed the new manager of Zenit.[42][43]

In 2004, Villas-Boas married Joana Maria Noronha de Ornelas Teixeira, with whom he now has two daughters, Benedita (born August 2009), Carolina (born October 2010) and a son, Frederico (born May 2015).[1][45][46] He speaks English fluently, having been taught by his paternal grandmother Margaret Kendall, whose mother moved to Portugal from Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England, to start a wine business.[13][47] Her brother Douglas Kendall served as a wing commander for the RAF during the Second World War.